Roundup stitch-up - chunks of 'independent' European report were written by Monsanto

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) ‘copied and pasted’ entire paragraphs of a Monsanto report on glyphosate to enable a European sales permit for Roundup to be renewed.

Whole paragraphs from dozens of pages of the Monanto report were lifted by the EFSA and included in what was supposed to be an independent scientific report on the effects of the chemical on human health.

A study by the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer identified Roundup as "potentially carcinogenic," but the EFSA concluded there was no such evidence - now we know why.

The scandal erupted this week when environmental organisations were able to access the EFSA and Monsanto reports and immediately spotted the lifted sections of text.

Margarida Silva, a researcher who has led the anti-glyphosate movement in Portugal, commented,  "After much public pressure in the European Union, Monsanto was forced to make available all the information, including its studies and decisions."

The biologist said that "publicly, the EFSA always let it be assumed that it had made an independent assessment based on all the available evidence." However, "Glyphosate gate" now represents "a remarkable breach in the relationship of trust that links the public to technical and political leaders at the European level by exposing this lack of independence."

In June 2017, the European authority stated that "all scientific studies would be scrutinised by EU technicians,” but the final EFSA report includes whole passages identical to those contained in the report submitted by the Monsanto task force that had been charged with obtaining a renewal of the license to continue to sell Roundup in Europe.

These lifted passages include information on the relationship, or non-relationship according to Monsanto, between glyphosate and the mutation of cells associated with cancerous or reproductive diseases.

"This case leads us to question the whole process of pesticide approval in the EU, as the regulator presents an assessment that largely was written by the industry," said Franziska Achterberg, policy advisor for food at Greenpeace’s European Unit.

In its defence, the EFSA argues that it has an "independent, balanced and robust policy" but Achterberg said that "irrespective of whether it is due to negligence or deliberate intent, this report is completely unacceptable."

In June 2016, the European Commission decided to extend the license to use Roundup in the EU for a further 18 months - France voted against; Portugal, Germany, Italy and Austria abstained.

At the time, the European Commission commented that the decision was based on "an extremely thorough and rigorous scientific evaluation of the active substance carried out by EFSA and agencies of member states,” not realising that Monsanto had written the report, much of which was presented as 'independent research and analysis.'

See also, Sumofus petition - 'Tell the Members of the European Parliament to put public health before corporate profits and ban harmful EDCs'

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